December: Day 22: Holy Great Martyr Anastasia the Deliverer from Bonds

December: Day 22:
Holy Great Martyr Anastasia the Deliverer from Bonds*
 
(On Compassion for Those Imprisoned in Prison)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Saint Anastasia "the Deliverer from Bonds," whose memory is celebrated today, is a high example of Christian mercy to those imprisoned. "I was in prison, and you visited Me" - this word deeply penetrated the soul of Saint Anastasia. Cheerful, bright, overjoyed by the joy that she gave to others, she went around the prisons daily and everywhere she was met as an angel of God.

But the grace of this consolation did not last long with her: her husband became indignant with her and, fearing that she would squander all her wealth on prisoners, began to keep her locked up, assigning a guard to her. She reached despair and wrote to her former tutor: "Pray to God for me, for the love of Whom I suffer to the point of exhaustion." The elder answered her: "Do not forget that Christ walking on the waters is able to calm every storm: 'And he arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the waters, and there was a calm' (Luke 8:24). You now stand as if among the waves of the sea, patiently await Christ - He will come to you ... Light is always preceded by darkness; after death, life is promised; the end awaits earthly sorrow, as well as earthly joy. Blessed by God is he who trusts in Him."

Homily Two on the Sunday Before the Nativity of Christ (St. John of Kronstadt)

Homily Two on the Sunday Before the Nativity of Christ

By St. John of Kronstadt

"He (Jesus Christ) is our peace" (Eph. 2:14).

A great feast for all Christians is approaching – the feast of the Nativity of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ from the most pure, unwed Virgin Mary; the feast of the greatest, wondrous and all-saving event, many times foretold by the prophets, foreshadowed in various images and likenesses for the people of the Old Testament. Soon the Holy Church with the Angels will sing: "Glory to God in the Highest, and on the earth peace among those whom He is pleased" (Luke 2:14). But where, someone will ask, are the blessings of God's peace, the heavenly silence on earth, when wars have never ceased on it from the beginning until now, when the earth has so often been and still is a terrible spectacle of slaughter and bloodshed; when human passions, both in war and in peacetime, continually produce storms and confusion both in the masses and in individual human beings?

The Roman Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch

The Roman Patriarchate of Antioch

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

The Patriarchate of Antioch as an Orthodox Church is very ancient, since in Antioch, which was an ancient Greek city founded in 300 BC, one of the ancient Christian Churches developed, where for the first time the Disciples of Christ were called Christians (Acts 11:26). And in the Church of Antioch, by the command of the Holy Spirit, it was decided for there to be a mission to the Gentiles and they entrusted this work to the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Barnabas (Acts 13:1-3).

Thus, the Patriarchate of Antioch, with its seat in Antioch, belongs to the ancient Patriarchates, occupying the third place to this day, after Constantinople and Alexandria. In the 14th century AD, due to various events, the seat of the Patriarchate was transferred from Antioch, which today belongs to Turkey, to Damascus in Syria, one of the oldest inhabited cities since 5,000 BC, where it exists to this day. Also, outside of Syria the Patriarchate of Antioch has Lebanon and provinces in Turkey, Arabia, etc.

December: Day 21: Saint Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow

December: Day 21:
Saint Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow
 
(Lessons From His Life)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Almost 600 years have passed since the death of the now celebrated Saint Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow, but time has not hidden from us the lamp of faith and piety; the Russian people have preserved his memory in their chronicles for the grateful, prayerful glorification of the Saint of God. Let us open these chronicles to see in them the bright image of the Saint standing before the throne of the Lord of glory.

Saint Peter was born in Volyn, in the second half of the 13th century. Not long before his birth, his mother had a significant dream, foreshadowing the greatness of the soul and life of her future son. She dreamed that she was holding in her arms an extraordinary lamb, between whose horns there was a tree on which the leaves were mixed with flowers and fruits, and among the branches of the beautiful tree many candles burned, pouring out fragrance. And the dream came true: the Lord gave her a son, who became a shepherd of many rational sheep, was fragrant among them, and shone with faith and a God-pleasing life.

A Russian Newspaper from 1900 Reviews an Early Publication of Writings by Saint John of Kronstadt

Archpriest Father John Sergiev, rector of Saint Andrew's Cathedral in Kronstadt, is the son of a clergyman of the Arkhangelsk province, Pinezhsky district, in the village of Sura, born in 1829. (He is now 69 years old). He sleeps no more than three hours a day, and sometimes he barely manages to take a nap, sitting or riding somewhere in a carriage. He is always on his feet, constantly serving in the church, confessing and administering the Holy Mysteries to hundreds of people.

"His Majesty Emperor Alexander III, sensing the approach of His death, wished to see Father John and joyfully greeted him. Father John prayed with the Tsar, and the Tsar felt the power of his prayer. On October 7, in accordance with the will of the Tsar, Father John communed him with the Holy Mysteries. Then summoned by the august sick man on the very day of His repose, Father John, at the request of the Tsar, read a prayer for the healing of the sick man and anointed Him with oil from the miraculous icon. Then, at the request of the Tsar, Father John laid his hands on His head and did not take them away for a long time. The Emperor, being fully conscious, asked Father John to rest, but Father John said that he did not feel tired, and asked Him: 'Is it hard for Your Majesty that I keep my hands on your head for a long time?' But the Tsar said to him: 'On the contrary, it is very easy for me when you hold them.' Then the Tsar continued: 'You are a righteous man: the Russian people love you.' 'Yes,' answered Father John, 'your people love me.' 'They love you,' said the Tsar, 'because they know who you are and what you are.'"